Compassed About Me

Prayer Optional?

This verse has been making the rounds lately as a 'prayer' for the President:

Psa 109:8  May his days be few!

    May another take his job!

Not only is this kind of thing un-American [there's an election every 4 years...exercise your right to vote and learn how to be mature when your side loses] but it is incredibly un-Christian.  To whit:

Mat 5:43 Love for Enemies

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor'52 and 'hate your enemy.'
Mat 5:44 But I say to you, love your enemy and53 pray for those who persecute you,
Mat 5:45 so that you may be like54 your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Mat 5:46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors55 do the same, don't they?
Mat 5:47 And if you only greet your brothers, what more do you do? Even the Gentiles do the same, don't they?
Mat 5:48 So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.56

Rom 13:1 Submission to Civil Government

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God's appointment,1 and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God.
Rom 13:2 So the person who resists such authority2 resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will incur judgment
Rom 13:3 (for rulers cause no fear for good conduct but for bad). Do you desire not to fear authority? Do good and you will receive its commendation,
Rom 13:4 for it is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be in fear, for it does not bear the sword in vain. It is God's servant to administer retribution on the wrongdoer.
Rom 13:5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath of the authorities3 but also because of your conscience.4

Rom 13:6 For this reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities5 are God's servants devoted to governing.6

Rom 13:7 Pay everyone what is owed: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

Believe me, I think my fellow citizens who voted for Obama made a colossal mistake, but the [mis]use of this verse could not be more antithetical to what Jesus teaches us.  

Chris

Resurrection Sunday!

(Mat 28:6 NASB) "He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.

[Romans 8:24,25] For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

It is ironic, I think, that it is only in looking back at what God accomplished this morning that we have any cause to look towards the future with confidence.

Jesus was not to be found in the tomb that morning!

Blessed be the day when ours are empty as well!

Chris

Whitewashed Tombs...

Mat 23:27  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.
Mat 23:28  So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

At the office where I work there was a, for lack of a better description, "office beautification" campaign.  One person decided that our building lacked a certain professionalism, appearance-wise, and so they sent out an email to that effect, calling it the "office challenge" to do what we could to spruce up our work areas in order to make a better impression on any visitors we might have.

Now, I agree that this was a good idea, because there is a certain quality of haphazardness to our office and the goal was worthy.  And the president of company agreed and sent out a company-wide email supporting this effort so I did my part and straightened up my area, as did everyone else.

Now, all this was well and good, but something happened during all this clean up work that is a perfect illustration of what Jesus is talking about in this passage. 

There is an area at the front of the building that is the first thing you see when you walk in the front door and it was a mess.  There were samples of the product we sell all over the place.  Quite frankly, it was a disaster.  So, this person who started the campaign went through this area, with some help, and completely cleaned up, taking everything out of the area and vacuuming the carpet.  Honestly, he did a great job and it looked awesome. 

There was only one problem:

He put all the stuff that he had cleaned up in the back hallway. 

For the past 2 months I have looked at the mess that used to be in the front which is now in the back, waiting for this person to finish the job...and it hasn't happened.  The "office beautification" campaign is history,[If you work in an office you know how these things work, if not, count yourself fortunate], and it probably never will get done. 

We recently had a cubical realignment and now the shortest distance from my cube to restroom is down that back hallway.  Every time I walk that way, I hear Jesus' words again, for it reminds me that my true righteousness, or lack thereof, is defined by what I have in MY back hallway.  It does me no good to clean up the lobby so that people THINK I am a good man...what matters God's evaluation of whether or not I AM a good man. 

Now, don't get me wrong, I know that there will always be stuff in my back hallway and I know that God's grace and the blood of Jesus covers that.  He is the one who saves me from this body of death.

I'm just not going to pretend like it's not there.

Chris

Real Life...

Mat 5:21  "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.'
Mat 5:22  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire.

Can one claim to be righteous by simply refraining from murdering? 

Not by a long shot, for as Jesus implies, when you say that anger and harsh talk don't come from the same fountain of HATE as does the act of murder, then you don't understand righteousness at all. 

If love is a big part righteousness, and that is what I am maintaining throughout this exposition of the Sermon on the Mount, then we must recognize that if to HATE means to MURDER, then to LOVE means to do what?  Well, it must mean to GIVE LIFE!  To give life in all ways at all places and at all times to all people. 

What?  You didn't realize Jesus did this throughout His life?

He did!

That's why He is the Righteous One! 

Are you ready for some REAL LIFE?

Chris

For the Love of God...

Mat 5:19  Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:20  For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

The Law was never intended to be a dry recitation of right and wrong.  It was intended to show how we are to relate to one another and to God.  That we come up short on both counts is no surprise to God, and here Jesus confirms that the Father, in His mercy, still considers the Pharisees a part of His Kingdom, although it is clearly insinuated that their position is both just inside the Kingdom and maintained very tenuously. 

The Reason?  Because they have relaxed the commandments of God.  How?  By not adhering either to the holiness of the Law, i.e. not fulfilling the Law themselves both in its stated rules and unstated implications,

[e.g. Mat 5:21  "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.'
Mat 5:22  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire.   The Pharisees stopped at the literal meaning and did not explore the full ramifications of what it meant NOT to KILL]

But also by the fact that they were not motivated to follow the Law by reason of LOVE for God or their fellow man.

Therefore, rather than saying that the Pharisees had set a an impossibly high bar for admission into the Kingdom, Jesus was really setting the absolute MINIMUM standard by which one could enter the Kingdom. 

Chris

Fulfillment!

Mat 5:17  Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfil.

Mat 22:36  Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?
Mat 22:37  And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38  This is the great and first commandment.
Mat 22:39  And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Mat 22:40  On these two commandments the whole law hangeth, and the prophets.

LOVE is the basis for the Law and the Prophets, therefore, Love is a basis for Righteousness.  To be Righteous means to love the Lord your God, love your neighbor, and, yes, love yourself. 

Jesus came, not only to show us God's love for us, but to show us how to love God.

THAT is what God really wants.

Chris

Man on a Hill...

Mat 5:14  "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Mat 5:15  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
Mat 5:16  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

The premise is simple enough:  Jesus is teaching the disciples about what the Kingdom of Heaven looks like and how it works.  If His Kingdom is governed by His righteousness, and I can scarcely see how it could possibly be argued otherwise, then it makes sense to observe the One who fulfilled all of the teachings found of the Sermon on the Mount, for in fulfilling the righteous requirements of the Kingdom, He displays what righteousness is!

Jesus is, then, the righteousness of God.

I thought it would be useful, then, to examine the Sermon on the Mount to get a better idea of exactly what righteousness is.

To be continued....

Chris

True Prosperity...

Mat 6:7  "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.
Mat 6:8  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Mat 6:9  Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Mat 6:10  Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Mat 6:11  Give us this day our daily bread,
Mat 6:12  and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Mat 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Mat 6:14  For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
Mat 6:15  but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Mat 6:16  "And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
Mat 6:17  But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
Mat 6:18  that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Mat 6:19  "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
Mat 6:20  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Mat 6:22  "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,
Mat 6:23  but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
Mat 6:24  "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Mat 6:25  "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Mat 6:26  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Mat 6:27  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
Mat 6:28  And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
Mat 6:29  yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Mat 6:30  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Mat 6:31  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
Mat 6:32  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
Mat 6:33  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Mat 6:34  "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

The Prosperity Gospel is nothing less than idolatry.  Idolatry of money, that is.  There are, quite simply, NO verses in the New Testament that in any way promise Christians worldly wealth, much less assert that having such wealth is a good thing.

I defy anyone to find even one.

Sure, you can go to the Old Testament all day long and find instances, such as Abraham or Jabez, where God gave material blessing, but that was part of His covenant with those folks. 

WE, however, do NOT LIVE under that OLD COVENANT!  We live under a NEW COVENANT that redefines our blessings in SPIRITUAL terms:

Eph 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:4  even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

I guess your outlook on the matter probably depends on what you think is important: eternal things that last forever or material things that rust and rot away. 

Jesus said, "MY Kingdom is NOT of this world."  And yet Prosperity Gospel proponents continue to think that the things of this world are the instruments by which He intends to bless us.  The corollary to this, of course, is that if you AREN'T being blessed it's because either: you don't really believe in God, or, you are in sin.  Legalism at its "best".

"Forget the spirtual blessings, brother!  Who needs the fruit of the Spirit or living a life of righteousness and peace!  What's really important is if you have 3 cars in the driveway, 4 flat panel TV's and a big house!" 

God promises to take care of us, to provide for our needs.  Not our wants.  It is right and proper to ask God for the things we need, and even more so to thank HIm for the things He has given us. 

But everything in its place.  Jesus didn't die on the Cross for you to be rich.  He died that you might have peace with God.  He took away your sin in order that God might GIVE you something:

HIMSELF! 

What is "stuff" compared to Him?

Chris